life made lovely monday...bows!!

Today I am taking joy in the simple but lovely things of my day.

Im linking up with other loves over at Blessed Little Nest

for "Life Made Lovely Monday"!

OK so im not usually a crafty gal, but let me tell you, blogs are SO inspiring to me...

encouraging me all the time to hop on the "do-it-yourself" wagon!

So, Im giving it a go.

Abigail's bows. oh so many bows!

(a girl cant ever have too many bows!! right?!?!)

and her poor little bows have lived in utter chaos in a basket for the last 15 months.

But not anymore!!!

I got to thinking about organizing her bows when I saw one of those sash bow organizers at a store, and I thought "well I could attempt that myself". So I came home and looked it up and found an even better solution for me...the Bow Frame!

I have actually made a frame like this before that I store all my earrings on (with a frame and window mesh), but now I have a whole new "accessory frame"! I found a few descriptions of how to do it online, and Im sure alot of you amazing mamas out there are many steps ahead of me and have made things like this for years, but I am proud of my bow frame. it was so easy to make, and man are we organized now! oh, and its stinking cute too!

just pick a frame (I got a cute one from Michael's - always great prices)

PS do you see the sweet little hands touching this frame?! :)

pick some ribbon you love or that coordinates with her room or bathroom...

remove the glass and matting from the frame, then turn the frame over.

then use a hot glue gun to attach the ribbon where you want it.

(a ruler came in handy here to help measure spacing)

I just put a little drop of glue at the top and bottom.

pull the ribbons tight as you attach them on the back of the frame.

And there you go!! You have a bow frame!

Now just add the bows and hang it up!!

and compliment yourself that you just made a simple, pretty thing

that will make your life a little simpler. and a little prettier too.

Hope you have a blessed Monday!

Become a follower at the bottom of the blog...

we love to share life and we'd love for you to keep up with us as we journey!

Happy Lovely Day!

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hittin the trails...

Part of the reason for the title of our blog using the word "racing" is also to talk about our goals and journey in our training for physical (biking and running) races.

(o man, what a little diva!)

Parker introduced me to biking early on in our life together.

My first mountain bike experience was just a few weeks into our marriage, and it wasn't pretty.

Lets just say there was a certain tree that did not like me very much. ouch.

He then got me interested in road biking, which also resulted in the lovely scar I still sport on my knee 5 years later. ha.

Parker and I did our first triathlon together 3 years ago, and though I literally almost drowned, and was at the end of the hundreds of people finishing....I finished. I will blog about it another time, but next to delivering a baby, and breastfeeding for 15 months and counting,

finishing the tri was one of the biggest and hardest accomplishments I have ever set out to do.

And now Im gonna do it again! (big sigh.)

I am learning to build my confidence in biking, and running and swimming too.

I have a bike of my own now and don't have to use Parker's, and I am learning that I love it!

(sweet little A enjoying the outdoors with us today!)

All that to say...today I hit the "training trails" with Parker (and Abigail in tow of course!)

We drove south of here to a state park with great mountain biking trails and a great lake to run around. Parker is doing an Adventure Race next weekend (paddling, running, biking, and a mystery event...oh so fun!), so he hit the trails with his bike, and I took A for a jog in the stroller.

If you don't live in our part of Texas, then you don't know...but it was GORGEOUS today!

Abigail loved being outside, she is definitely made for the outdoors

just like her mama and daddy.

She made her voice shake as I ran with her in the stroller, and every few minutes I would hear her giggle at the fact she was moving fast.

Much better than listening to music on the ipod.

My desire is to share my journey of training with you,

as I know it wont just be about improving distance or time.

(which for me it just about doing it at all...maybe someday I can worry about improving time and such!)

It will also be about self-discipline, building confidence in myself, overcoming fears (of falling and of failing), and learning that I can do it. It wont be perfect, or even pretty. I may even get another scar, but then hey, maybe I can have one for each knee! anyways.

I know this sounds silly, but I think that training for this is something the Lord has put in front of me to do. I know He has a lot to show me about myself through it. And about Him.

That HE is my Sustainer, my Carrier, my Protector, my Breath every day.

June 5th. 11 weeks from now. ahh!

Hopefully it will be another proud accomplishment in my life!

I will keep you posted (haha...such a blogger thing to say) on how things are going, and welcome any encouragement!

Thankful right now for the gifts and blessings in my life. Thankful for Gods restoring of my health (read more about that here.) Thankful for another reason to lean on His strength!

Family Pictures!

Just had to share the pics we just got back from taking

Abigail's "One Year" Pics!

(even though she was closer to 14 months in these)

I will let the preciousness speak for itself...

I know Im biased, but Abigail Joy seriously is cute, right?!

Oh I just cant get enough of this little munchkin!

These pictures are brought to you by my friend, Emily Mulkey.

Check out her website here...she is amazing!

these shoes were made for walkin...

Ive never cried after buying shoes (enter first-time mommy moment).

But yesterday was different because I wasnt buying for me.

I was getting shoes for the little bitty feet in my life!

Memaw (my mom) took me and Abigail to buy her some "big girl" shoes for the first time.

Obviously, she's worn shoes before, but now that she started walking this week, we thought it was time for some real deal walkin shoes.

Im kicking myself that I didnt take the camera, but here are a few pics to share. If you are a first time mommy (or were a while back) then you probably understand how proud I am of her big girl shoes. I think I'm in denial a little bit too.

I cant believe my tiny little daughter is big enough for shoe shopping!

We went to Stride Rite, where my mom bought me shoes when I was little. yep, same store, still there.

and get this: the guy that tried shoes on Abigail probably fit me for shoes too...he's been there 20-something years! amazing, right? I think it made him feel special.

I teared up when he put her foot on that big silver foot-measurer-thing.

(pause for another mommy moment)

He told me what size she needed, and remember my denial? well, I made him bring the next size smaller. But after trying them on, come to find out, he did know what he was talking about (he fit me for shoes when I was little so I shouldve known)....but my shock of how fast my little girl has grown was taking over!

All that to say, I dont normally cry over shoes. And it really wasnt about the shoes.

Its about that my little bitty is not little bitty anymore.

She is growing already into a beautiful little girl with a beautiful heart.

And now some big girl shoes.

(walking in her new shoes to greet dada home from work last night)

Praise These Little Feet

(brand new feet!)

Those tiny little feet. Those precious little toes.

They have melted my heart since the beginning, and now for a whole new reason...

Abigail is officially a walker! This past Saturday she decided it was time. Its been a long time coming, lots of cruising with her "grandma" walker and her scooter, lots of walking in circles around the coffee table, lots of grabbing mama's hands to walk all around...

but this weekend, at 14 and a half months old,

she decided it was time to do it on her own!

(4 month old toes)

In the midst of all the excitement of having a little walker, I came to the realization that I am officially a mom to a toddler now. oh man. It has already been exhausting chasing her around the past 4 days! She literally just takes off. If you know her at all, you know that Abigail is already a very busy baby, and we just bumped it up to a whole new level!

While I know my role as a mommy just stepped up a bit,

(this walking skill has already seemed to foster a new level of "independent spirit" in her),

I could not be more excited for her!

It makes me so happy that she has opened up a whole new door to her little world!

There is nothing like watching a child take her first steps. It is actually a very spiritual thing to see confidence building before your very eyes. She has had months of learning that she can trust us and the things around her to hold her up, but she now is gaining the confidence she needs to do it on her own. Not like we are ever on our own with the Lord...but I think there are certain seasons where He instills His peace and confidence in us so that we can move forward in the next seasons He has for us.

Yet we always know that if we fall, He will pick us up and carry us.

(big girl 14 month old, walking feet!)

My favorite moment since she started walking is not actually her walking, though it makes my heart leap every time I see her toddling towards me!

On Sunday, after a full day of her new skill, she did something Ill always remember as one of my (many) favorite mommy moments.

I was laying on the bed nursing her, and she did something unusual.

She pulled back from me, took her foot in her hand, and pulled it all the way up to my mouth with a huge smile on her face. She wanted me to kiss her little walking feet!

Parker came in right after she did that, and she took her foot and held it against his lips as well.

Parker then recognized and said the sweetest thing, acknowledging what she was trying to show us....He told her that we were "praising these little feet" for all the walking and hard work they had been doing. She was proud of herself and wanted us to be proud too!

Proud we are! We will be praising these little feet for all the walking she will do in her life. And we will be there to pick her up or carry her when she needs a little help along the way.

SO proud of this girl!!